Department of History

The story of how the USS Turner Joy ended up in middle of one of the defining events of the 20th century, starts deep in the heart of the ship — the Combat Information Center. Christoph Giebel, associate professor of history and of international studies, is quoted.

The College of Arts & Sciences celebrates undergraduate and graduate students from across all four divisions, who are recognized for making the most of their time at the UW. 

A program set to launch in July will enable families affected by housing discrimination to get financial assistance for home purchases. James Gregory, professor and associate chair of history at the UW, is quoted.

“3 Body Problem,” a Netflix adaptation of the popular Chinese sci-fi novel by the same name, is causing controversy in China for its depiction of the Cultural Revolution. How do the Chinese people see this crucial period of their history? Madeleine Dong, professor of history at the UW, is interviewed.

The University of Washingtonâs graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Reportâs 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings released late Monday.

The 2024 presidential election will potentially trigger even more people to move both within and outside of the US. James Gregory, professor and associate chair of history at the UW, is mentioned.

Last week, children's book author JK Rowling tweeted some more nonsense about transgender people. In this case, she disputed the fact that Nazis destroyed early research on the community. Laurie Marhoefer, professor of history at the UW, is featured.

Admitted students and families can engage with the College of Arts and Sciences through several department and program specific events over the next few weeks.

Americans are moving within the country far less often than they once did. The peak of U.S. migration followed the end of World War II and lasted through the mid-1970s. But while overall migration is down, state-to-state moves are slowly on the rise again. James Gregory, professor and associate chair of history at the UW, is quoted.

For several months between the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2023, two or three researchers at the UW headed to the Puget Sound Regional Archives in Bellevue and spent each Friday digging into Kitsap County deed books — specifically, around 300 bound volumes and 520 documents between 1921 and 1948. The purpose was to identify and map neighborhoods marked by racist deed provisions and restrictive covenants across the state before 1968. Sophia Dowling, project coordinator with the UW Racial Restrictive Covenants Project, is quoted, and team members Erin Miller and Samantha Cutts are mentioned.

Historically, presidential candidates and their teams have weighed a number of factors — including public opinion and political experience — before making a decision on the number two slot sometime around the party conventions. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

Boeing is still a force locally, both in influence and sheer numbers. The company still receives very generous tax benefits from Washington, notes Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW. Yet its presence in the region isn’t top of mind for many anymore.

In the first of the history department’s annual History Lecture Series, Professor Emeritus John Findlay presented “City and Citizens: Seattleites and Their Rights, 1850-2000,” reflecting on different groups that have immigrated to Seattle.

You don’t interrupt your quiet life in a Seattle suburb and book a plane ticket to war-torn Sudan unless you have a really good reason. Not right now, in the middle of a brutal conflict between rival forces that’s killed more than 12,000 people and displaced 7 million. Christopher Tounsel, associate professor of history at the UW, is quoted.

According to a 2021 survey by Vox and Data for Progress, 37% of Americans think billionaires are terrible role models, and 49% said they have overall negative feelings towards them. And the heat is felt most prominently by the big-name tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW, is quoted.